The Feathered Ones

It’s been a low clouds, misty few days with the temperatures hovering in the low 60s. The cicadas are emerging and their chirrrring is building each day. With the rain we’ve had recently, the plant life is exploding with growth, so it’s green everywhere. And the birds are busy, busy, busy. I have two red-shouldered hawk’s nests that I’ve been watching. The chicks stand on the side of the nest now and their wing feathers look like wing feathers. No longer just downy balls of fluff, they are growing fast. Red-shouldered hawks are more vocal than some hawks, keee-keee-keeeing the day away sometimes. If they are nesting, they are vocal about anyone coming into their territory and spend a lot of time calling warnings. Yesterday the crows had been cawing off and on for hours in the woods and field at the house. And the red-shouldered hawks were keee-keee-keeeing even more than the crows were squawking. I stepped outside every once in a while to try to see what was happening, but most of the activity was in the woods with only occasional passes over the field. And when there was a pass over the field it was in a spot I couldn’t see from wherever I happened to be. Finally in the middle of the afternoon I saw a crow swoop over a tree in the middle of the field. And then swoop again. I scurried out the back door to tiptoe down the yard so I could actually see that tree. And there on a dead branch was the bald eagle.

They are giant birds. If I’m standing as tall and straight as I can, I might hit 5’8” which means my arm span is about the same. A bald eagle’s body is anywhere from 28” to 37” long and their wingspan is typically 6’ to 7’. That is a REALLY big bird. With a white head and white tail, brown body and wings, and yellow beak and legs, they are stunning to see. Their eyes do not miss a thing. I stood still and just soaked in everything I could. From the sheer size, to the amazing balance. From the rich markings, to the power I could feel from 100’ away. I opened all my senses and greeted the bald eagle from my heart.

I do not have memories of a life as a bird. In my recurring flying dreams I am a human with the ability to fly by swimming through the air. But in this life, I have a close connection to all the feathered ones. And I know they have many messages and lessons for me. I do not always consciously know what the messages or lessons may be at the moment I am with the bird who is sharing with me, but I receive them all the same. I am changed just by being in the presence of the birds. Knowing they are always a support for me and guides I may call on, provides me with a base from which I can grow in all dimensions.

Bald eagles often bring messages of creativity and spiritual growth, as well as awakening the knowledge of traveling between the realms, among many other messages. I have found over the years that birds have been appearing for me, that trying to figure out the exact message or lesson that each bird brings is not the important part. Just opening to the true essence of each bird’s being is what’s important. Perspective is one of the life lessons birds have taught me. A tiny shift can make a big difference in what you get out of an experience. Whether it is a shift of physical direction or mental direction, a shift of focus from near to far, a shift from seeing to listening, there is always more.

This morning, there was again a great ruckus outside. I went out to investigate and there in a locust tree was the red-shouldered hawk fussing at the bald eagle in the adjacent locust tree. Bald eagle magic again today! I feel such a surge of joy when a feathered friend greets me. Keep an eye out and see what feathered ones bring you messages today. Smile, greet them and open to their wisdom.

Water, Water Everywhere

The last few days have been very wet where I reside here on this planet. Over 3 inches of rain have fallen, with most of that falling in a 48 hour span. It was already a green spring and now the lushness has exploded. I love to put on my Wellies and raincoat and go walking in the rain with Dixie. I’ve gotten to do that in the last few days, careful to avoid walking in the thunderstorms. Sometimes the clouds are high and sometimes they are dark and low. Sometimes the rain is a fine mist and sometimes it falls in great sheets. I feel like I’m swimming when I am slopping through puddles, breathing such moist air, and have water running down my body.

In my intuitive energy practice I frequently use the elements with all their healing properties. When I work with water, I am often using its cleansing and cooling aspects. I find that many people grasp these aspects of water easily, enjoy using water this way and tuck this into their tool belts for later use on their own. For others, the concept of using water this way is harder to grasp. I often suggest that they practice while actually in water, whether a shower, bath or a swim somewhere. But for the strongest connection to water, go straight out to water in its natural setting. A creek, pond, waterfall, ocean, or a rain shower. We don’t all have access to bodies of water, but most of us have access to rain showers somewhere along the way. Just stand in the rain, turn your face to the sky and bring your awareness to where the water is touching you, your forehead, lips, shoulders, feet. Notice what the water feels like on your body. Notice where the water runs across your skin. Notice what it smells like, what it tastes like. Notice all the sounds of a rain shower. Notice the movement of water and how it is never completely still. Notice the clarity, even with a sheet of rain falling in front of you, you can still see through it. I use water to cleanse and cool when there are physical, emotional, mental, and energetic imbalances. And while rainy days can seem dreary, that is just one way of looking at them. With a gentle turn of the mind, a rainy day becomes a gift. A rainy day is a day of cleansing. Just as the pollen and dirt are washed away in the physical world, so is the stuff I’ve picked up that’s not mine, stuff that’s not beneficial to me. I open to the gifts of water and I am refreshed. I am new.

Noticing You Are Lost, Finding Home

As an element-based person, I do not remember a time without some form of element connection. I did a lot of dancing when I was little. Dancing which was made a little easier for me because of that element connection. But with the inter-connectedness of all, dancing also allowed my spatial awareness to blossom and root itself in me and in the elements. I am also quite a bit of a home body. I do love to travel, but I will always return home. I think of myself as a tree, one who can take walks. Earth and wood are two of my main elements which means as a rooted tree I am both, and still I maintain connections to water, air, light, fire, stone, metal, ether and star. My roots allow me to stay grounded when I am away from home; my roots are my very feet. When I am home, my roots stretch deep into the earth for all the nutrients and support they need. And when I am home, my view is a bird’s eye view from the top of my strongly supported tree.

With my spatial awareness centering is very much a 360° experience. As a walking tree, I am usually able to maintain my center after all these years of practice. But there are times and places when maintaining my tree form and my center and my grounding all disintegrates. Sometimes/places, it is a seeping sense of loss. Others, it is a sense of floating in some foreign substance. Others still, it is as if I am wrapped in a gauze and cannot move comfortably nor see clearly. I have learned only some of the markers for this disintegration. I will learn many more as I continue on the journey. But at this point as I continue to walk each step, breathe each breath in the now, I open my awareness to all that is. In this opening to all that is, I am opening to all the lessons, whether it is how to maintain my center and grounding or if it is how to notice when I am off-center and uprooted.

I first must notice I am lost, before I can find my way home. With the breath, I notice there is something strange muting my hearing. With the breath, I notice there is a blurring of my sight. With the step, I notice my leg doesn’t move smoothly. With the step, I notice an emptiness below me. And once I am aware that I have lost my tree form, lost my center, lost my grounding, I breathe into the tree that I am. I step into the earth that I am. I breathe into my heart space. I breathe into the center that is all. I have found my way home.

Listen

Open the senses and you open to the All. I practice opening my senses at different times, but perhaps most often, I practice this while I’m on my walks. Today I opened my hearing. While that means I heard Dixie’s four feet on the ground in a rhythm with my two feet, I also heard the Meadowlark’s whistles through my skin. I heard cars in the distance and new leaves rustling. I heard the crow fly overhead, wings shuush-shuushing the air, and I heard it through the top of my head. I heard the heartbeat of spring through my feet with each step.

Sound is vibration. Vibration is not heard only through the ears. It is sensed with all of the physical body. Listening with my entire being draws me into my physical body. Being drawn into my physical body grounds me more which in turn opens me even further. A lovely little cycle. Opening to vibrations, I allow them to ripple through me, I am one. I am still aware of my physical body. I am still walking. I am still listening. Yet, I am no longer separate from the sounds. I become the vibrations. The vibrations of breath, life, light. Open to this space of listening and I am All. What will you hear today?

Osprey Magic

They perch on branches at the edge of trees, trees that are just now starting to green up and fill out. From a distance they are dark slashes on dark branches that catch the scanning eye. A sharper look brings the white head to attention. For hours they will sit on a branch. Then with a quick wingbeat or a gentle wingpush they are wing on air. They move from a space of being one with the tree to being one with the air in an instant. They soar on big winds, they coast on small winds. They hover above the water, keen eyes zeroing in on a fish. They drop with great speed to dive into the water to catch that fish. While only in the water for a short period of time, they are one with the water for that time. Crossing the boundaries of the elements is just some of the magic of the Ospreys. When fishing, they look closely, make a decision to move and then move. And when they move, they move with efficiency, speed and grace.

Where I am here on Earth in Virginia, there are Ospreys who are year round residents and there are Ospreys who stop by on their migration. Last spring, there was a day when there were seven Ospreys on the one pond up the road. So far this spring, four is the most I’ve seen in one day. Most days this week there has been at least one, often two. With their white underbody and sharp M-shaped wings, they are easily recognizable when they are on wing. Their masked face is more noticeable when they are near. I find them to be the wise wizards of the big birds. I call on them when I need clarity in decision making. I call on them when I need help shifting quickly from one thing to the next. When I’m just in a hurry and have lots to do or when I’m moving from being friend to intuitive energy healer. When I’m traveling and crossing time zones or when I’m healing old patterns that no longer have any place in me. They appear when called upon with all their magic, willing to share.

When next you are stuck, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or energetically, call on the Ospreys. Breathe in their essence, feel your connection to them, and soak up their magic. And keep an eye out, they just may appear to you soon.

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Poem 4/5/13

When I walk the fields, I walk through time.
When I walk the paths, I walk the realms.
When I walk the earth, I walk life.

I see colors and shapes via my eyes
and I have learned to see colors and shapes via my tongue.
I have crossed the boundaries of the senses,
hearing becomes touch, smell becomes sight.
I reach out and touch the webs of life
and find that I am spider, I am petal, I am fire.

Breath fills me, vessel that I am, to overflowing light.
I vibrate at new levels and lose myself in the flow of grace.

Yet still I walk.